The first of the produce

My parents have started gathering the firstfruits of the garden. (They always over-plant, so I'm not sure when we'll actually start feeling motivated to have our own garden). We've been blanching beans, freezing zucchini and making pickles. Yum! Can't wait for those tomatoes to start turning red.

Fat quarter baby dress

My mom handed me a generic white baby wrap top a few weeks ago. I knew just what to do with it. A friend just had her first girl, so it was destined to become a dress for her. This is the simplest of sewing projects.
Cut a fat quarter in half. I cut through the selvage, so I could use the finished edges (you can certainly finish the edges too). Sew the short, raw edges together. Press.


Press one long edge up about 3/8" and then turn over again to create a finished hem. Stitch.


Stitch two rows of gathering stitches along long, unfinished edge.


Open wrap top. Gather skirt and pin right sides of top and skirt together. Stitch.


You can attach buttons, ribbons, yo-yo's or a host of other fun doodads. Ta da! You just made a baby dress in less than an hour. There's still time to cook dinner!

Strawberry Muffins

I was inspired by this post to bake some of these the other day. The cornmeal intrigued me so I checked the cabinets. I had all but the blueberries, so I subbed strawberries. Yum! They didn't last long. Oh, and of course I subbed the flour with a GF mix and added a teaspoon of xantham gum. I'll be making some blueberry ones soon (my sis is picking up a giant box for me).
I've been working away at my craft/guest room and it's coming together quite happily. I am hoping to share a pillow sham pattern soon. Now I need to go figure out how to do buttonholes on the new sewing machine.

Faux Fair Isle

The new patterns are up at Blue Sky, which means I can share my latest design. This is the Faux Fair Isle Set (isn't the photo amazing?). The gals at Blue Sky asked me to create a new hat/mitten/scarf set out of Blue Sky Bulky last fall. I wanted it to be something simple that a beginner would have no trouble with and started experimenting with slip stitch patterns. This is what I came up with. It's a super easy (and totally gratifying) knit. I think the Azalea may be calling my name... what are you waiting for?

Overdue Post of Overdue Curtains

We were long overdue for some curtains in the living room. We've got big west-facing windows that catch all kinds of sun during summer afternoons and evenings. (They're not catching any sun today, hence the dark pictures. It's a stormy morning here). I've been wanting to cover them with something dark enough to keep it cool in here. So... I broke down and combed through the fabrics at Walmart and actually found a combination I really loved. I used a cocoa-colored cotton duck and a coordinating ticking stripe. I also found some cute matching buttons in my great grandmother's button stash. They're far from perfect, but I'm super happy with them anyway. The color is perfect, and the improvised design suits our style.


How I did it: Cut ticking at 12" intervals. Seam discreetly to get pieces wide enough to match 55" wide cotton duck. Finish vertical edges of ticking. Press 5/8" seam at long edges of ticking. Press top edge of cotton duck at 5" and press edge in 5/8" to get a finished sleeve for curtain rod. Match top edge of ticking to top edge of duck and stitch (I put right sides together, but make sure you don't get it upside down). Push ticking aside and stitch down sleeve for rod on cotton duck. Top stitch bottom edge of ticking. Hem bottom of curtains. Sew buttons on.